San Diego High defeated Excelsior Norwalk in the championship game of the Southern Section playoffs in what was almost becoming routine.
The 16-8 victory at the Lane Field home ballpark of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres was the seventh since Mike Morrow became coach in 1927.
Th Hilltoppers (20-4), also known as Hillers and Cavers or Cavemen, had several standouts, including one who would star for the PCL Padres.
Sophomore pitcher Al Olsen signed with the Padres after graduation in 1939 and was an essential member of the team’s starting rotation for most of the next 13 years.
3/31/37
John (Red) Keogh pitched the season’s first no-hitter, a 2-0 St. Augustine triumph over Point Loma at University Heights playground. Keogh struck out 14 and walked three and no runner advanced beyond second base.
—Hoover’s six errors that led to two unearned runs allowed Sweetwater to edge the visiting Cardinals, 4-3.
4/21/37
Charlie Strada of St. Augustine caught a fly ball in right field and threw to first base to double up a Naval Air runner. First baseman Claude White then completed the season’s first triple play with a throw to shortstop Bob Menke, who tagged a second Naval Air runner for the third out.
Joe Rinder was 3 for 3 for the Saints, who won, 12-3.
—Les Cassie scattered 10 hits and the San Diego State Freshmen topped Escondido, 12-5, on the Aztecs’ diamond.
—Cliff Bashore gave up four hits and Grossmont defeated visiting Point Loma, 5-1.
4/23/37
Long Beach Wilson created a three-way tie with Alhambra and San Diego for first place in the Coast League when the Bruins struck 11 base hits off three San Diego pitchers and defeated the traveling Hillers, 8-1.
—Hoover claimed its first Coast League victory with a two-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat Santa Ana, 8-7.
The visiting Saints took advantage of Cardinals ace Del Ford, who retired with a sore arm in a three-run fourth inning, and led, 7-3, before Hoover scored three runs in the eighth, setting up its clinching rally. Del Ballinger, who relieved Ford, was the winning pitcher.
—Charlie Strada homered and tripled and drove in five runs, and Ed Vitalich survived a couple homers and 10 hits as St. Augustine outscored Sweetwater, 11-7, with a 15-hit attack on the Red Devils’ diamond.
—Don Galindo struck out 15 Oceanside batters, allowed two hits, and Escondido shut out the Pirates, 14-0. The Cougars had 13 base hits, including home runs by Morgan Finney and Willie Reyes.
4/26/37
Two-year letterman first baseman Dick Mitchell was elected captain of the Hoover team, coach Wofford (Wos) Caldwell announced.
—Del Ballenger surrendered one hit, a bases empty home run by Red Keogh in the fourth inning, and contributed a home run as Hoover beat St. Augustine, 10-1, on the Cardinals ‘diamond.
4/28/37
Track star and baseball pitcher Jerry Soule struck out 13 and was supported by two singles and a home run by first baseman Carl Reed and three singles and a triple by Elvard Walden in La Jolla’s 10-4 win over visiting Oceanside.
4/30/37
Bill Hutchinson’s grand slam home run and Art Davis’ effective pitching resulted in an 11-2 win, Mountain Empire over guest Ramona.
—Don Galindo, with 17-hit support, pitched Escondido to a 12-6 win over nonleague visitor Compton.
—Jack Lange had two doubles and a single and Del Oliver, who relieved Del Ballenger in the ninth inning, was the winning pitcher after Hoover scored two runs in the 10th at Alhambra for a 6-4 Coast League victory.
5/1/37
Attendance was 1,200 persons at Lane Field, home of the Pacific Coast League San Diego Padres, and the Hilltoppers, behind lefthander Al Olsen, defeated Long Beach Poly, 9-2.
Olsen gave up five hits and Dave Curtis and Jess Meyers each had two hits and Chet Kehn walked four consecutive times.
San Diego’s victory set up a one-game playoff in four days with Long Beach Wilson, with the Coast League title on the line. The teams tied for first, each with a 4-1 record.
5/4/37
Cliff Bashore pitched Grossmont to a 4-1 victory in the season’s final Metropolitan League game, tying the Foothillers with La Jolla and Oceanside, behind champion Escondido.
5/5/37
Al Olsen won his second straight critical game, striking out 13 and pitching a seven-hit, 8-3 win over Long Beach Wilson in City Stadium and giving San Diego the Coast League’s playoff berth.
—Ed (Zip) Vitalich improved his record to 6-1 and, aided by Joe Rinder’s double and triple, set down the Navy Hospital team, 6-2, although the medics reached Vitalich for 11 base hits.
5/7/37
San Diego defeated Placentia Valencia, 26-1, in a first-round, Southern Section playoff in the community near Fullerton in Orange County. Manny Fernandez and Dave Curtis hit home runs and Chet Kahn pitched.
Game information in The San Diego Union originally incorrectly reported a 7-2 San Diego victory and a Hilltoppers’ advance into the playoff finals.
5/8/37
Escondido sent Santa Monica home with an 8-0 playoff victory over the visiting Vikings. Don Galindo won his 12th game without defeat. Don and his brother Ursulo each had three hits in four times at bat.
—CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten notified San Diego coach Mike Morrow by telegram that the Hilltoppers’ next opponent would be Calexico at a site to be determined.
5/12/37
Announcing that because one of its players had been hospitalized with an illness, Calexico pulled out and forfeited its quarterfinals playoff game to San Diego.
CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten turned to Blythe Palo Verde Valley. The free-lance school, 220 miles away, on the Arizona border, had petitioned Van Patten for inclusion in postseason play after posting a 5-1 record. Unattached teams had to win three of five games to be eligible, according to CIF rules.
—St. Augustine completed its season with a 10-7 won-loss record and 6-1 victory over Sweetwater at Golden Hill Playground. Ed (Zip) Vitalich’s three-run home run was supportive of the 11-strikeout, four-hit pitching by John (Red) Keough.
5/20/37
A day earlier than expected, because of a City Stadium schedule conflict with an 11th Naval District track meet the next day, Blythe took the field against San Diego and went the way of Valencia, 25-3.
San Diego battered Yellowjackets pitcher Eunice Johnson for 19 hits in seven innings of a game that was called after eight innings. The Hillers, leading, 8-0, struck for 13 runs in the fifth inning.
“Blythe knew it was in trouble in the second inning when its catcher nailed his own pitcher (in the back) while trying to throw out a base stealer,” wrote Don King in Caver Conquest, the athletic history of San Diego High.
—Fallbrook’s 16-hit attack overwhelmed Ramona, 9-3, on the Bulldogs’ diamond and gave the Warriors the Southern Prep League championship.
5/26/37
Escondido coach Harry Wexler said he would not play San Diego in a semifinals playoff in City Stadium, next to the San Diego High campus and seemingly tailor-made for the sluggers on San Diego coach Mike Morrow’s squad.
Gamesmanship was in play and Escondido was feeling its oats with a 17-0 record against high school competition and a 10-3 win over the Hilltoppers in the Pomona tournament in March. San Diego found itself in an elimination game against a team from what it considered the inferior (in comparison to the Coast) Metropolitan League.
Morrow then declared that he would not take his team north to play a game on the Cougars’ diamond.
San Diego Padres owner Bill Lane ended the need for CIF commissioner Seth Van Patten to intervene when Lane made Lane Field available.
Wexler sent pitcher Don Galindo, who had posted a 16-0 record, to face Morrow’s nominee, sophomore Chet Kehn.
A memorable battle ensued with the teams tied, 2-2, after nine innings.
San Diego won, 3-2, when Mel Skelley’s pinch hit single, a line drive to leftfield, scored Al Olsen with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th.
Kehn gave up six hits and was touched for two unearned runs in the first inning. Kehn and the Hilltoppers avoided disaster in the sixth after John Filippi dropped Fred Valanzano’s fly ball to left field.
Filippi recovered and the Cougars’ Ursulo Galindo, trying to score from second base, was thrown out, Filippi to Jared (J.W.) Scudder to catcher Jess Meyers.
6/5/37
The championship game at Lane Field was anti-climactic following the dramatic win over Escondido. The Hilltoppers trailed early to the Norwalk Excelsior Pilots, who took a 5-4 lead after four innings. Aided by 16 bases on balls, San Diego totaled 11 hits in a 16-8 victory. J.W. Scudder Chet Kehn, Stanley (Wes) Sharp, and John Filippi each had two hits.
A Great one. Memories. You’re always the best. Thank you much, Manny